ORCID Profile
0000-0003-1264-0438
Current Organisation
University of Southampton
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-04-2019
Publisher: S. Karger AG
Date: 2014
DOI: 10.1159/000365042
Abstract: b i Background: /i /b Across Europe, poor health behaviours are associated with increased risks of non-communicable diseases. There is particular concern about young women, children and families, not least as health behaviours operating before and during pregnancy and in early postnatal life may have profound long-term consequences for children's health. Using findings drawn from 7 European countries, we aimed to identify barriers to the implementation and uptake of dietary and physical activity recommendations, and to consider how best to achieve changes in mothers' behaviours and thereby improve the adoption of health recommendations. Six studies across the 7 countries were used for this narrative synthesis of findings. b i Key Messages: /i /b A woman's education has a strong influence on her own and her children's health behaviours. Women's diets vary across ethnic groups and according to number of children, but psychological factors, such as self-efficacy and sense of control, which may be amenable to modification, are powerful, too, particularly in women with lower educational attainment. Maternal influences on children's behaviours are strong. Differences exist in infant feeding across countries, and there are apparent urban/rural differences in children's diets and physical activity. b i Conclusions: /i /b Interventions are needed before, as well as during, pregnancy to improve the diets of families with young children. Interventions to address psychological barriers to eating well and being more active are indicated.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-2009
DOI: 10.1080/08870440802460426
Abstract: Women of lower educational attainment are more likely to eat unhealthy diets than women of higher educational attainment. To identify influences on the food choices of women with lower educational attainment, 11 focus groups (eight with women of lower, and three with women of higher educational attainment) were held. Using a semi-structured discussion guide, environmental, social, historical and psychological factors known to be associated with food choice were explored. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Compared to women of higher educational attainment, women of lower educational attainment had less control over their families' food choices, less support for attempts to eat healthily, fewer opportunities to observe and learn good food-related practices, more negative affect, more perceived environmental constraints and more ambiguous beliefs about the consequences of eating a nutritious diet. These findings provide a starting point for taking forward the design of an intervention to improve the diets of young women.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.APPET.2007.10.004
Abstract: Women who leave school with few or no educational qualifications are less likely to have diets that meet current recommendations than women who attain more qualifications at school. We hypothesise that lower 'food involvement', meaning that food has a lower level of importance in their lives, explains the poorer quality diets of women of lower educational attainment. We administered Bell and Marshall [(2003). The construct of food involvement in behavioral research: Scale development and validation. Appetite, 40, 235-244.] Food Involvement scale to 242 women of varied educational attainment, of whom 127 were also asked how often they ate fruit and vegetables. Women's food involvement decreased with decreasing educational attainment. Forty-two percent of women who had no educational qualifications were in the lowest quarter of the food involvement score, compared with 12% of women with degrees. Women with lower scores on the food involvement scale also reported eating fruit and vegetables less often. The odds of eating fewer fruit and vegetables rose with lower educational attainment and with lower food involvement scores, suggesting that each has an independent effect. We have shown that the Food Involvement scale discriminates between women, is associated with other characteristics and predicts dietary quality. We now plan to use it in a larger, representative population of women of lower educational attainment to examine its role along with other psychological variables in determining dietary quality.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2011
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-08-2021
DOI: 10.1186/S12913-021-06893-4
Abstract: Changing people’s behaviour by giving advice and instruction, as traditionally provided in healthcare consultations, is usually ineffective. Healthy Conversation Skills (HCS) training enhances health professionals’ communication skills and ability to empower and motivate people in health behaviour change. Guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), this study examined the impact of HCS training on health professional barriers to conducting behaviour change conversations in both clinical and non-clinical settings. Secondary aims were to i) identify health professionals’ barriers to having behaviour change conversations, and explore the ii) effect of HCS training on health professionals’ competence and attitudes to adopting HCS, iii) feasibility, acceptability and appropriateness of using HCS in their clinical and non-clinical roles, and iv) acceptability and quality of HCS training. HCS training was conducted in October-November 2019 and February 2020. Pre-training (T1), post-training (T2) and follow-up (T3 6-10 weeks post-training) surveys collected data on demographics and changes in competence, confidence, importance and usefulness (10-point Likert scale, where 10 = highest score) of conducting behaviour change conversations. Validated items assessing barriers to having these conversations were based on eight TDF domains. Post-training acceptability and quality of training was assessed. Data were summarised using descriptive statistics, and differences between TDF domain scores at the specific time points were analysed using Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank tests. Sixty-four participants consented to complete surveys (97% women 16% identified as Aboriginal), with 37 employed in clinical settings and 27 in non-clinical settings. The training improved scores for the TDF domains of skills (T1: median (interquartile range) = 4.7(3.3-5.3) T3 = 5.7(5.3-6.0), p 0.01), belief about capabilities (T1 = 4.7(3.3-6.0) T3 = 5.7(5.0-6.0), p 0.01), and goals (T1 = 4.3(3.7-5.0) T3 = 4.7(4.3-5.3), p 0.01) at follow-up. Competence in using ‘open discovery questions’ increased post-training (T1 = 25% of responses T2 = 96% of responses T3 = 87% of responses, p 0.001), as did participants’ confidence for having behaviour change conversations (T1 = 6.0(4.7-7.6) T2 = 8.1(7.1-8.8), p 0.001), including an increased confidence in having behaviour change conversations with Aboriginal clients (T1 = 5.0(2.7-6.3) T2 = 7.6(6.4-8.3), p 0.001). Provision of additional support strategies to address intentions memory, attention and decision processes and behavioural regulation may enhance adoption and maintenance of HCS in routine practice. Wider implementation of HCS training could be an effective strategy to building capacity and support health professionals to use a person-centred, opportunistic approach to health behaviour change.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 12-2008
DOI: 10.1017/S136898000800178X
Abstract: Women of lower educational attainment have less balanced and varied diets than women of higher educational attainment. The diets of women are vital to the long-term health of their offspring. The present study aimed to identify factors that influence the food choices of women with lower educational attainment and how women could be helped to improve those choices. We conducted eight focus group discussions with women of lower educational attainment to identify these factors. We contrasted the results of these discussions with those from three focus group discussions with women of higher educational attainment. South ton, UK. Forty-two white Caucasian women of lower educational attainment and fourteen of higher educational attainment aged 18 to 44 years. The dominant theme in discussions with women of lower educational attainment was their sense that they lacked control over food choices for themselves and their families. Partners and children exerted a high degree of control over which foods were bought and prepared. Women’s perceptions of the cost of healthy food, the need to avoid waste, being trapped at home surrounded by opportunities to snack, and having limited skill and experience with food, all contributed to their sense they lacked control over their own and their family’s food choices. An intervention to improve the food choices of women with lower educational attainment needs to increase their sense of control over their diet and the foods they buy. This might include increasing their skills in food preparation.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Wendy Lawrence.